SUNRISE REGION: Las Vegas hands Coronado first loss in three-game Sunrise stunner

Las Vegas High boys volleyball coach Sue Thurman stressed unity all season long.

That theme paid off in the Sunrise Region final against undefeated Coronado on Friday.

The Wildcats began the match with a 6-1 run and never slowed down, shocking the no-longer-unbeaten Cougars, 25-15, 25-23, 25-23, to gain their first regional title since 2005.

“We didn’t want to just show up to play tonight; we wanted to win,” said Thurman, whose team lost to Coronado in the last two regional finals. “Coronado’s a great team with a great coaching staff and excellent players. We knew that we were going to have to be on top of our game tonight.

“Our focus this year was becoming a unit, and they did that tonight.”

Braeden Wilson led the Wildcats (19-2) with 18 kills and 17 digs, but it was Tyler Wilson who helped the team start strong. He and middle hitter Chris Gbelay rattled off three kills apiece to give Las Vegas control of the first game.

The start was surprising, consider Las Vegas had come off a five-game victory over Silverado in the semifinals.

“We went to five our last game, and we learned from that to come out big, come out strong and just take care of our business,” said Tyler Wilson, who had eight kills and 14 digs. “We all got hyped up for this game — we knew it was important, and we wanted a banner. We came together, everybody did their job and we came out on top.”

Gbelay continued his strong form in the second game, notching two kills and two blocks on his way to five kills and three blocks for the match, and the Wildcats overcame a strong push by Chris Andrulis, who led Coronado with 13 kills.

The Cougars (20-1) beat Las Vegas on March 17 with a 3-0 sweep in the Wildcats’ third match of the year.

“It gave us a lot of fire to come back and beat them,” said Wildcats setter Luke Hansen, who compiled 40 assists, five aces, three kills and three blocks. “We really wanted to beat Coronado after they swept us at the beginning of the season. That helped us focus a lot.”

Hansen paced his passes to multiple targets all night, and Braeden Wilson also supplied a perfect pass to Tyler Wilson for an early advantage.

“If Luke can’t get there, ... I think I can get a pretty good set to somebody else,” Braeden Wilson said. “Tyler did a really good job when I set him up, and he put that away.”

Trevor Hardy added 11 kills for the Wildcats, and Matt Hagan had 11 digs to highlight a solid Las Vegas backcourt.

“One of my little (deep setters) Daniel Wynn played the best game of his entire life,” Thurman said. “His passing was spot on, and I think he’s the little man on the court, and when the little man steps up, everybody steps up. Everybody did their job.”

Hunter Chaney distributed 26 assists and had three kills as he tried to keep the Cougars close, even diving headfirst into the scorer’s table for a loose ball. Jordan Osmundson put up five blocks for Coronado, which hadn’t lost a game since April 29.

“I knew Coronado was a good team, and I knew they were going to come out and play hard,” Hansen said. “But I knew if we made no mistakes tonight, which we had very few — I told my team to not miss any serves, keep the ball in the court, let them make the mistakes, and we could outplay them. They just did it, and they all played great.”